No chance Diego was ever top 20. I'm thinking Silva, Pirlo, or even Ribery.

berbatov ldo, not sure if hes already been included or would have been top30/20 ever

bjorn must like samir nasri ;O

Bjorn is a juve fan though

gerrard?

van bommel ahead of carvalho, bosingwa etc =

diego could have been top 20. he was the bundesliga POTY how many times running? and the hot name among so many big clubs. castrol rankings have him as the 6th best brazilian.

Nasri>Fletcher and Carrick, hahahahaha eat that United homers.

Excellent writeups as usual. The list just keeps getting more interesting as we move closer to the top 50.

Odds this gets finished before the WC starts? Odds Bjorn wraps it up before the WC ends?

Hmm I guess all these guesses, that are wrong but of players who have at least dropped some, just not nearly that much, is at least a little bit of an indication of just how far this player has dropped out of fans "great player consciousness". He doesn't even come to mind anymore! Or worse I'm totally wrong and he is still a great player (but not really no, just can't see it).

Or maybe it's just more of a sign of just how long this has been going on. The first draft of this list was way back in November and the stature of so many players have changed drastically since.

And btw he probably wasn't top 20 in the first place. The earliest non deleted version I could find he was 33, then 43 and then all downhill from there...


Bosingwa would have been higher if it wasn't for injuries and Carvalho/Rio with really strong seasons I think ahead of the final two defenders.

You probably would have Van Bommel way lower anyway and like I talk about in his writeup, originally I wasn't even thinking of him as a good player anymore, but at least to me he proved this season that he is still one of those (in my mind) valuable central midfielders.

But yeah Van Bommel was the one non-defender right on the brink of, should he be ahead of those defenders or just behind, but in the end I chose to value what he does in midfield higher.

Thanks!

It's going to be tough but back to writing!

bjorn obv has vested interest else it would never happen. bjorn and his unbiased biasedness.

Even with the versatility bonus points I don't think Milner should be ahead of Fletcher and Carrick. But then I would think that so whatever.

Henry?

I dont think he's been a top 20 player for years though.

Regarding the Zigic sidenote in your Dominguez write up, according to Sky Sports Birmingham have agreed a £6m fee for him (Zigic).

That's interesting and a good reason to watch Birmingham imo.

I don't know if he is a good fit. He very well could be but I think for any team signing him he is such a unique player that you at least have to adapt to him somewhat. Not rely on him in transition that's for sure.

But a tremendous weapon in the box, even if that was even moreso the case in Spain.

Why is Fletcher not well ahead of everyone on this list? He should easily be in the top 50. Carrick shouldn't be in the top 200 shocked he is only one place behind Fletcher. Milner, Nasri, Arteta > Fletcher? Flabbergasted. I wouldn't swap Fletcher for all three of them. Suarez can also be slightly aggreieved I feel and of course Ballotelli's talent is much higher than his placing but I understand why he would be there.

I am guessing the one who has dropped is Kaka?

You don't really believe Carrick isn't top 200.

Benzema or Berbatov for the big dropper imo.

level?

I think Fletcher was way too early, and surely not one place removed from Carrick (or rated worse than nasri...wtf?), but I really enjoyed this set of rankings all the same.

I think Fletcher is probably top 50, tbh, but certainly the pick of that group of players (with the exception of perhaps Arteta, but only if he ever got to full fitness and was playing "at the height of his powers").

I'm so interested to see the writeups and placement of all the players that have been mentioned as falling in the past year or so, Zlatan, Henry, Benzema, Diego, Kaka etc. etc.

Exaggerating to make my point but he is certainly far down the list. I would have said differently last year but his form has dropped massively. Bar a very good spell in the mid part of the season he has been really poor and so should have taken a nosedive certainly well out of the top 100 imo.

fletcher schwanzlutsching ITT

Some possibilities for mystery player: Henry, Robinho, Adebayor

I guess I'm confused because that's two posters who usually are with it saying names other than Balotelli who I thought was obviously the player Bjorn was talking about that has dropped a lot. Are you guys talking about something else?

edit: LOL that's what I get for not reading the list. I thought the pic was the teaser. Carry on, nothing to see here.

Not saying the mystery top 20 dropper is this Guy.... but Luca Toni must have fallen a lot